Lets cut straight to the chase! I recently decided that I wanted to get into programing but I had no idea what I really wanted to code. So I just tryed searching online and found some tutorials and followed them. So here I am with a basic knowledge of Javascript and...Well prepare to cringe...Visual basic. As I was looking around I thought it would be fun to try and code a game. My only problem is that upon searching for ways to do this I got no straight answers!

So heres some questions that I would like some answers to from some of you more expirenced coders/dev's

What coding language do you use for making games?

On a scale of 1 - 10 how hard would you say the language is to learn?

On a scale of 1 - 10 after learning basics of the language how hard is it to use?

What have you made with the language?

What are its pro's and con's?

Would you recomend the language for a beginner?

What resources did you use when learning this language and how did it help you?

I guess something that could really help is that im not looking to make some super complicated new hit indie game...This is more just something I want to do to entertain myself or show my friends. The kind of thing id like to make is maybe a first person game where you just make your way through levels collecting items...Maybe somewhere along the way I could turn it into a simple rpg...Then...Well who knows! So ummmm...Help me dream big?

In my opinion, there are two ways to go about this - I'm working on both of them at the same time, but like you, I'm just getting started! Regardless of what you choose to do, I think the most important step is to develop a plan and some goals - figure out what you want to do, figure out how you're going to do it in steps, and then begin working on the steps.

One: Dive right in. Use what you know and a bit of logic knowledge (and lots of help from the internet) to begin developing an ambitious game that will surely fail. Learn a lot about game design, the design lifecycle, and the iterative process - and then try harder (and better!) next time.

Reading books on Analysis and Design can help, and watching lots of lectures - many great ones which can be found here on the site - can help you to flesh out what you're doing a bit more coherently. Communication is a big part of design, something I learn over and over.

Two: Learn assembly. Become one with the code and understand how computers work from a really low-level perspective. Build up your knowledge from there, and things should begin to fit together from a coding standpoint. My gameplan has me working my way up from assembly, to creating a compiler, to looking at various game engines - and while I would never want to make my own, I hope to at least have an understanding of how they're put together.

To answer your questions:
I personally really like the Java family for making games. I'm pretty new at this, though, so it's an exposure bias speaking. In D&D 3.5 terms as I understand them, Java is a Sorcerer while C++ is a Wizard. I've also taken a look at D, and I really like it, but I haven't had time to code anything in it so I don't feel qualified to make any assumptions.

On a scale of 1-10, Java is a 3 or 4 to both questions. There's a lot of really good tutorials for just about anything you want to do with it, and the libraries and coding environments for it are useful and encompassing.

I'm currently working on a cardgame/tactical turnbased strategy in java. It has all the tools I need to make it work, and to port it to app for things like android or ios or browser.

Pros: Relatively easy to learn and use, helpful IDEs, great community and fairly flexible

For your goal of a sort of evolving, iterative brain-child that you use to both entertain yourself and learn more about programming, I do feel that Java provides a great object-oriented environment to pull it off. That way, you can focus on upgrading and integrating one thing at a time, without disrupting too much of your other features. An example: If you've got your game running with a simple graphics controller object that simply accepts information from your main game controller to build what the user sees, all you need to do to upgrade your graphics is build a better graphics controller, rather than alter every other object's information and return values.

It really depends on what type of game you trying to make. Anything that is 2D or 3D requires a graphics library corresponding to the languages like Java and C++.

Java has a built-in graphics library from the java awt package. You can also use a graphics library that is compatible with Java but not necessarily comes with it. These graphics libraries are open source and you are welcome to use them.

C++ does not have a built-in library so you will need to find a graphics library that is compatible with C++ and import it with C++.

Anything that is NOT 2D or 3D like a button based GUI application, you can use Visual Basic to achieve it.

On a scale of 1 - 10 how hard would you say the language is to learn?

I would say C++ is the hardest. I never delve into anything object-oriented with C++ so I cannot speak from experience with this one. Truth be told, I got by with basic C++ as in getting a B in the course, but have no deep understanding of it until I fully and deeply understood Java.

Java is intermediate. Some concepts are easy to grasp. These are much more difficult for the beginner to grasp(ie: this, static, instance, overriding a method, interface, super).

Once you have a good understanding of the language, start writing your game. If you do not have a good understanding of the language, you cannot read open source game code.

When you start out learning game programming, time is your best friend. How difficult it is depends on how much time you are willing to put up with making a game. Will you give up out of frustration or will you push yourself? Game programming will keep pushing you as you start making more simple games.

Even the most simple game requires a good amount of time to wrap your head around the concepts(object state, game loop, collision detection, animation, etc,geometry logic)

On a scale of 1 - 10 after learning basics of the language how hard is it to use?

The good news is if you mastered the basics, you can start to master the intermediate level stuff. Once you have mastered the intermediate level, start making a simple game like Pong.

It really depends what concepts you know. You would need to list them so everyone can give you a better answer. The above will do for now.

What have you made with the language?

The programming language does not define what you can make. You must accept this statement. It is how programming is. First I made pong, then a simple arcade shooter, then a graphical typing game, then a simple zelda game, then finally I made small scale spiderman game. This is after having a deep understanding of Java and graphics and important concepts in game programming.

Understanding the general concepts, you can make whatever you want but start small. Get something moving on a screen and build off from there!

The important thing is "you know what you are doing" when you are learning how to program. Always keep questioning when you learn!

The good news is that you can teach game programming yourself and learn at your own pace.

What are its pro's and con's? I cannot say. But making a game in Java has been a nice experience. Game will run smooth if you write your own painting code.

Would you recomend the language for a beginner? Java is a great language for beginners. You will learn basic about the language and then start learning object-oriented objects. As a beginner, do not give up! Learn at your own pace and learn as much as you can and understand those concepts.You will need all of it for game programming.

What resources did you use when learning this language and how did it help you?

You will need a game development forum. This forum is great I use it all the time when I started out with game programming. I knew nothing about game programming 10 months ago. So I know exactly what position you are in.

Consult your API corresponding to the language. I used Java so I refer to the Java API all the time so I do not reinvent the wheel.

I guess something that could really help is that im not looking to make some super complicated new hit indie game...This is more just something I want to do to entertain myself or show my friends. The kind of thing id like to make is maybe a first person game where you just make your way through levels collecting items...Maybe somewhere along the way I could turn it into a simple rpg...Then...Well who knows! So ummmm...Help me dream big?

Don't worry about making a big game. Don't dream big when you are starting out. The important thing is to finish your pong game. That should be every beginner's goals.

Just get something to work the first day. Once that is done, come back the next day to work on the next feature. Once that feature works, move on to the next feature. You see what I am trying to get at?

True fact: You cannot make a big game until you made a lot of the smaller games.

In my honest opinion, any dialect of BASIC is one of the easiest entry points into the programming world, and it prepares you for later on when you want to switch to a "higher" language, because most programming concepts remain the same between all languages. BASIC just happens to be an easy way to learn these concepts without too much other crap in your way.

DarkBASIC is a dialect oriented at 3D game development. It has easy commands like "load object" or "position object" or "make light". Very simple stuff, and powerful at the same time.